Aviation directed study

[fsuseminole]

My university does not offer aviation related courses of any kind. I was thinking of trying to get approval for a directed study. In order to do this I need to come up with some type of research on a specific topic and pitch the idea to a professor. I already have a professor in mind. He is a pilot and has a Ph.D in some type of physics. I am currently majoring in Risk management and Insurence, but I need an elective course. Any ideas would be great. (Does not need to be related to business.)

Little background about me.
I'm 20 years old and passed my checkride in April of this year. I currently working on getting my instrument and commercial. I'm building time in a Cherokee 235 and hoping to get my ratings within the next year or so.

Thanks in advance.

 

[denverpilot]

Your homework, not ours. Get to thinking.

 

[fsuseminole]

Your homework, not ours. Get to thinking.

I have been brainstorming ideas for a while. I just recently got my license to learn and I am a first generation pilot in my family. I know there are a a lot of people on this site that have a ton of aviation knowledge and willing to share. Just looking for some creative ideas that a low time pilot may not know a lot about. Maybe something you wished you knew more about early in your flying career or something you wish you were taught more in depth while training for your private or other ratings.

Reading other threads, you guys were talking about the lack of young pilots around airports and general aviation and how times are changing. I have noticed that the majority of pilots at airports are older, but I enjoy talking to them and learning from there experiences. I am an aviation enthusiast and want to learn more.

 

[denverpilot]

I'm just giving ya a hard time, young aviator.

There's a lot of interesting mysteries about aviation.

I'm just not great at coming up with crap that professors want studied. I'm guessing if it's a Physics prof they would tend toward something you could physically demo about flight and prove mathematically over say, a sociological study about pilots.

Maybe a combination topic. We've known for a long time in aviation that Angle of Attack is the critical measurement of when a wing will be flying and not flying, but in most aircraft equipped with AoA sensors the raw data is rarely readily displayed to the pilot and the uptake of cheap/reasonably priced AoA indicators on light/recreational aircraft still is weak and not commonplace.

Can discuss the operation and construction of the typical AoA sensors and the lack of many of them in the training fleet and that they typically feed a computer in transports and aren't displayed to the pilot on the standard flight screens.

 

[MAKG1]

Lessee....

IFR Traffic management. Noise reduction. User interfaces, sensors and controls. Airfoil design. Composite structures. Engine design, perhaps electric or jets without moving parts. Hypersonic flight. Aerodynamic stability. Design techniques.

It's a huge field out there.

You would do best to talk to this physics prof to see what your options are. Nate, you're off the mark about what a physics prof would be interested in.

That's assuming you're not looking for aviation risk management topics.

 

[Hank S]

Check out Paul Lipps and his elliptical propellers, Elippse. Niw that he has succumbed to cancer, someone should resume his research. Should mix well with a Physics prof.

 

[denverpilot]

You would do best to talk to this physics prof to see what your options are. Nate, you're off the mark about what a physics prof would be interested in.

Not too surprising since I really don't care what the sheepskin pushers want. Heh. Never hung my hat nor my success on their expensive whims. "You need an elective or we won't say you learned anything here, go make one up, please deposit $580 for the semester" is retarded in the extreme anyway. Heh.

 

[Threefingeredjack]

My university does not offer aviation related courses of any kind. I was thinking of trying to get approval for a directed study. In order to do this I need to come up with some type of research on a specific topic and pitch the idea to a professor. I already have a professor in mind. He is a pilot and has a Ph.D in some type of physics. I am currently majoring in Risk management and Insurence, but I need an elective course. Any ideas would be great. (Does not need to be related to business.)

Little background about me.
I'm 20 years old and passed my checkride in April of this year. I currently working on getting my instrument and commercial. I'm building time in a Cherokee 235 and hoping to get my ratings within the next year or so.

Thanks in advance.

1.) Learn to spell insurance.

2.) What Denverpilot said.

 

[ClimbnSink]

You are trying too hard. Go take some regular scheduled class that is the least distasteful and checks the box. Study aviation on your own. Why ruin airplanes by mixing them with college?

 

[G-Man]

I'll chime in to agree with DenverPilot and others. It's unlikely to be good value for your educational dollar to "buy the elective." (In my own experience, it wasn't.)

Consider taking something fun/easy/different, enjoy it or at least zip through it, get the elective credit, and learn to fly as a separate issue.

Or, consider a research paper on some aspect of Risk Management for GA Pilots. Maybe accident rates for LSA (no Class III medical) vs. similar-time Class III medical pilots - you could get some good press for gathering that info! If you're considering an insurance career in Excess/Special Risk, it will also look good on a resume/job application.